Conviction Or Indesicion
by blackshade9
Summary: James has really got to learn to stop picking up shiny things. Watch as heroes clash with villains and the foundation of a world is shaken to its core.


Well here's my first ever fan-fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 9, or any of its characters, plot lines, or ideas. I do own James, and any other Original characters they may or may not appear in this work of writing.

On with the fic!

--

James yawned as he strode down the street. It had been a long and tiring day at school, starting with about three, unnecessarily complicated tests, a taxing mile to run, and finishing it all off with a nice long, eight minute speech for his Oral Communications class. 'As he strolled down the street fate decided to strike in the form of a glittering object on the side of the road.

"The hell is that?" said James

He approached the small object and bent down to get a better look. He examined it carefully, not touching it for fear it was a piece of sharp glass or the like, and saw that it seemed to be a small crystal.

"Cool." He deadpanned. He reached down and picked up the crystal. The crystal had a strange feel to it. It was smooth and almost felt like some sort of gel. It had a brilliant shine making every color imaginable. Then, without notice, James felt as though he had just touched an electric fence. He tried to scream but all that came was a hoarse cough. His vision began to blacken and tunnel. He tried to grip on to conciseness but was fighting a losing battle. Just before all went black, James had one last lingering thought.

'I really have to stop picking up shiny things.'

--

James vaguely recalled his skull hitting something hard as he came to. He assumed it was the pavement. Opening his eyes he began to adjust to the darkness. Wait, darkness? Was he out so long that it had turned to night?

_Crap!_ he rushed to stand and noticed something incredibly odd. For one, he wasn't outside; rather, he was inside some sort of a cabin. It was so dark he couldn't really tell, but it felt like the ground was moving, so he thought that it could perhaps be a sort of ship. He didn't have time to stick to his musings as a sharp light invaded his thoughts.

_Is that a match?_ James thought

Realizing that perhaps he had possibly been kidnapped, he immediately started to feel around for a hiding spot. He found it in a form of a couple of small barrels. He quickly climbed behind them as the unknown individual passed by and seemed to search the shelves. The man, who he could see was indeed a man from the small light his match produced, just as soon left the shelves and went deeper into the room. Suddenly, the room was full of light as numerous candles lit up. Momentarily blinded from the light, James tried to regain his bearings. He then heard a male voice yell:

"Who's there!?"

James jumped, thinking it was the man who had passed earlier had spotted him.

"It's me, Zidane!"

Or maybe not. Still, what kind of name was Zidane?

He heard a door burst open and decided to risk a peek from behind his shelter. Three more men had burst into the room.

Deciding that if these guys were going to try and attack him, he should have something to fight back with, he started to look around his hiding spot. All he found was a small bag filled with an assortment of odd coins. Grasping the small bag, he looked around the corner again to see that the three were chatting nonchalantly, rather than searching for him.

James realized that through his observations that he had missed the entire conversation but had come back to earth just in time to see a door at the top of a staircase swing open and the man who had opened it, jump off the platform and land right in front of the four other men. He appeared to be a large portly man… With a dragon head?! It gave an enormous roar and drew out one of the biggest swords James had ever seen in his life. The other four all drew their own weapons in a rush to defend themselves. James, seeing what was coming next and to terrified to think of watching, quickly ducked behind the barrels again. He clapped his hands over his ears to drown out all the fighting and yelling. It felt like hours, but only a few minutes had passed when the noise grew quiet. He waited until he heard sounds of conversation and then a closed door. Chancing another glance, he looked out from behind the barrels. Nobody was there.

_Time to go! _

_These guys aren't kidnappers, since they didn't kidnap me; otherwise they would have tried to find me. _

He quickly climbed out from his hiding spot and began to search the now-lit room. Inside was a large assortment of junk if nothing else. He spotted a large body mirror and wandered over to it.

Inside of this mirror was a tall man of about 5'11 in height, with brown eyes. His hair was brown with blond tips that covered the most of his head. Noticing that he also was in possession of his messenger bag, more questions popped into his head, first and foremost, why whoever had picked him up hadn't taken it from him. He also noticed that he was clutching something in his right hand. Opening it to take a look he discovered it was the strange crystal he had found on the side of the road.

"Why do I still have this?"

He shoved the crystal into his messenger bag, along with the bag of coins, also noticing that all of his textbooks were gone but not really caring. Reminding himself that he was in the ship with a bunch of armed strangers he quickly got his wits back together. He had to get off this ship before they came back! Dashing for the nearest door he swung it open and entered into a hallway. Noticing cross-roads he used the utmost most logical thing to do in this type of situation.

"When in doubt, go left."

Armed with such impressive logic he began to dash from corridor to corridor until he threw open a door that led to the outside.

"Time to swim!" James yelled. He rushed to the railing and, luckily, chanced a glimpse over it before he took the leap. Good thing he did to, as rather than water being beneath them he found that he was about a mile from the ground.

"W-what the-?!"

As he raised his head he set eyes upon an enormous, majestic castle with a giant glass sword straight in the center.

"W-where the hell am I!?"


End file.
